Tourism Geographies

An International Journal of Tourism Space, Place and Environment

ISSN: 1461-6688 (Print) 1470-1340 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rtxg20

A post-COVID future: tourism community re-

imagined and enabled

K. Michael Haywood

To cite this article: K. Michael Haywood (2020): A post-COVID future: tourism community re-
imagined and enabled, Tourism Geographies, DOI: 10.1080/14616688.2020.1762120

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2020.1762120

Published online: 13 May 2020.

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TOURISM GEOGRAPHIES
https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2020.1762120

A post-COVID future: tourism community re-imagined

and enabled
K. Michael Haywood
College of Management and Economics, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

The urgent demands of the present necessitate an interrogation – Received 23 April 2020
a re-exploration and a re-envisioning of the future of tourism – of Accepted 24 April 2020
what has to change (and remain constant). Despite the crippling
effects of COVID-19, new forms of solidarity are emerging that KEYWORDS
challenge the prevailing competitiveness ethic. While a transac- Tourism; management;
transformation; change;
tional economic revival has to remain a top priority, progress will community; destination;
advance, so long as tourism becomes more transformational and universities; research;
transcendent. Discoveries of new methodologies for achieving the assessments; competitive-
Sustainable Development Goals and versions of a Green New ness; COVID-19
Deal, for example, are generating interest, notably ‘mass flourish-
ing’ introduced in ‘anti-fragile’ ways. Utilizing a ‘future-back’ para- 关键词
digm that demands deep-dive assessments and articulation of 旅游; 管理; 转型; 变化; 社
purpose, the gaps between ‘what is’ and ‘what could or should 区; 目的地; 大学; 研究; 评
估; 竞争性; 新冠肺炎
be’ are bound to close. Such undertakings represent a ‘coming
together’ of all stakeholders, a role that academicians are urged
to embrace, especially through action research, curriculum change
and creation of ‘daring classrooms’.

摘要
当前迫切需要对未来旅游的重新探索和再构想的审视——哪些一
定会变化或不变化。尽管新冠肺炎引起”致残效应”, 但涌现的新式
休戚与共挑战着主流的竞争性伦理。虽然交易经济的复苏仍为重
中之重, 但只要旅游变得更具变革性和超越性, 其进步将会到来。
例如发现实现可持续发展目标的新方法和各种”绿色新政”引起人
们的兴趣, 特别是以”抗脆弱”方式引入的”大众繁荣”。 利用需要深
度评估和明确目标的”未来-回溯”范式, ”是什么”和”可能或应该是
什么”之间的鸿沟必将弥合。这些工作表征所有利益相关者都聚合
到一起, 敦促学者们通过行动研究、课程改革和创建”大胆教室”纳
入此角色。

The current reality – appreciated

The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply
uncomfortable, unhappy and unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our
discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways
or truer answers. (M. Scott Peck)

CONTACT K. Michael Haywood michael.haywood@sympatico.ca

ß 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 K. M. HAYWOOD

In the wake of unfathomable carnage during the COVID-19 pandemic, a brutal decima-
tion in tourism-related employment became the new norm. Seventy-five million, and
counting, unemployed, many loaded with debt, unable to meet their financial obliga-
tions, thrust into poverty. Annual revenues for travel and tourism in excess of $2.1 tril-
lion lost forever (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2020), with hundreds of thousands
of small- to medium-sized enterprises worldwide ordered to close; thirty to forty per-
cent never to be revived, with similar effects cascading throughout supply chains.
With movement of all kinds at a virtual standstill, aircraft parked, hotels shuttered,
it took a single month for the geography of a contagion to totally disrupt the geog-
raphy of travel and tourism (Florida, 2020). Destinations reliant on tourism became
ghost towns. Cries of ‘What’s going on?’ led to feelings of sheer hopelessness among
many, dramatized by ‘Inner City Blues’ (Marvin Gaye songs on YouTube).
WHY? An utter inability to learn from history. Ill-informed leaders. An unwillingness
to deputize knowledge. An asinine assault on, and denial of, facts and science. And, a
surfeit of procrastinated responses.
With no option but to capitulate, everyone pushed jj PAUSE, and took time to
comfort and care for each other, grieving, and sparing moments of time for sorrow
and expressions of sincere gratitude to those who unselfishly put their own lives in
harm’s way.
Then came pensive reflection: Where do we go from here? What would, should, a
reset look like? Would disaster relief and corporate bailouts be enough, particularly for
hospitality and tourism workers? Would tightened borders and travel restrictions
remain, particularly as a deterrent to future climate- and food-related refu-
gee migrations?
Forced to embrace current realities, everyone found themselves questioning prior-
ities, how the trajectory of lifetime interests and pursuits would or should be altered,
including desires to travel, especially abroad. Amazing how catastrophic events sud-
denly alter perspectives and provide different outlooks on lives lived, and livelihoods
pursued. Current management practices, research projects, and curriculums somehow
seemed contextually irrelevant. Though some saw glimmers of hope: A Green New
Deal (Rifkin, 2019) conceivable; over-tourism receding; and, a global communitarian
spirit displacing a hyped-up ethic of competitiveness.
But, with competitiveness so deeply ingrained in human behaviour, would a sud-
den resurgence and pent-up demand for travel resurface? Were talks about an
emergence of stakeholder capitalism pre-mature (Govindarajan & Srivastava, 2020)?
In a frenzy to revive economies would governments and corporations act rashly
and irresponsibly? Suddenly it seemed as if the demand for more transformative
and conscious forms of travel and tourism (Pollock, 2020) might fall on deaf, or
tuned-out, ears. In fact, people like Geoffrey Lippman (SUNx Malta) were becoming
increasingly apprehensive and adamant in their warnings about being sidetracked
in the collective quest to achieve the all-important Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs).
Despite misgivings, there was hope: Futures don’t have to be bleak, so long as
nations learn to act globally. While this cannot be predetermined, futures do allow for
aspirations; aspirations that can be coaxed into being, so long as ‘can do’ mindsets
 TOURISM GEOGRAPHIES 3

prevail, conditions stabilize, and ready access to essential resources and vital commu-
nity support systems remain.
Yet, with the prevalence of zoonotic viral threats remaining, scepticism seemed
hard to quell. One thing became evident: COVID-19 ensured the irrelevance of
assumptions once held in esteem. There were no other options but to follow Robert
Frost down ‘the road less travelled’. Hoping it would make all the difference, and pro-
vide the gift of time, everyone sought to regroup and figure out how best to progress
from mere surviving to thriving.

The current reality – breached

Civic pride provided the most heart-warming of responses to COVID-19, particularly in
the way individuals and businesses came together to sing. Indeed one song, that
could easily have come from the Beatles’ playlist, ‘Come together’ – signaled not just
longing for family, friends and congenial gatherings, but for sociability and connectiv-
ity to people and places; and, more importantly, for a desire to reach out, support,
and share – a desire to cooperate and bring the world back together again.
In this sense an over-arching theme emerged: Survival is determined by those who
adopt the path of solidarity, in comparison to those who continue to travel down the
path of disunity – solidarity, realized and recognized as both the inter-dependencies
among communities, and the inter-dependencies among people and organizations
within communities. Whereas in pre-COVID-19 times many communities-as-destina-
tions demonstrated a love-hate relationship with tourism that was put into abeyance
as they realized the importance of putting communities first.
While still a work-in-progress, it appears as if this reaffirmation actually represents a
new beginning – a call for a moral form of capitalism (Young, 2003) that reinstates
peoples’ collective obligations to each other: Obligations companies, on one hand,
have to communities and their citizens (Williams et al., 2007), though far above and
beyond typical corporate social responsibilities (CSR); and, on the other hand, obliga-
tions that communities have to their citizens, including all forms of enterprises.
Pre-COVID, solidarity within communities-as-destinations had always been an uphill
battle. Despite the prevalence of public/private partnerships in support of marketing
and branding, the management of communities-as-destinations had remained an allu-
sion, few destination marketing organizations (DMOs) saw fit to adopt a much-needed
managerial focus of tourism, particularly as a cluster. According to the Destination
Next Futures Study (Destinations International, 2019) there was the intention that this
should change. Now, in a post-COVID world, many people are calling for a more pro-
found reassessment.
Solidarity means pulling people out of the comfort of their fiefdoms, so they can
act with the big picture in mind. And this applies to many tourism scholars and NGOs
who, for example, continue to point to lack of progress on the sustainability front,
while ignoring the degree of progress underway, and how well-advanced many enter-
prises are in their commitments and actions. A criticism that also applies to a general
lack of understanding of hospitality and tourism-related businesses, and the progres-
sive managerial practices that have been adopted.
4 K. M. HAYWOOD

Then again, ignorance manifests itself in all directions. Just as was learned from the
collapse of the banks and other institutions during the 2007–8 financial crisis, the con-
sequences of weak governance can be hard to spot until it’s too late. Underpinning
weak governance is ignorance – not knowing, not seeing, and not acting. Weak gov-
ernance is not just about missed opportunities; it can leave in its wake a collapse of
confidence throughout an entire industry or community, and chip away at public con-
fidence – a lesson that a renewed sense of solidarity can help resolve and rebuild.
As a means of coming together on these and related issues, Steven Covey (2004)
once said: To move from effectiveness to greatness (fulfillment, passionate execution,
and significant contribution), it’s essential we find our voice and inspire others to find
theirs. Thanks to virtual community forums this is being accomplished today.
Participating in these forums is essential if communities-as-destinations are to continue
their journeys down the path of solidarity, so long as people recognize their common-
alities while downplaying their differences – a frame of mind that reflects a willingness
to have ‘opposable minds’ (Martin, 2009).
As is certain today: Everyone is in the same boat, staring down similar dilemmas
and conundrums in an uncertain world. We are all in search of desirable, feasible and
viable options, even though commerciality may not always win out when win-win out-
comes are desirable but become contentious. Every business and every person is
learning how to re-adapt on-the-fly; everyone working hard to achieve more solid
financial footings, concerned about helping employees re-adjust, attempting to regain
customers and visitors, many of whom remain skittish, hard-wired to physically dis-
tance themselves from infectious others.
With no one able to conceive of re-building to pre-COVID levels of demand (Bariso,
2020), and all visitor-serving enterprises knowing they have no other choice but to
adapt to new gathering guidelines, business models are bound to change (Ritter &
Pedersen, 2020). Domestic tourism seems destined to dominate, with the vast majority
of customers or visitors likely to come from nearby catchment areas, everyone being
told to be very selective about the number of trips they make.
With consumer habits and behaviors in flux, virtually everyone is in the midst of fig-
uring out how tourism should be re-conceived, a process that will remain frustratingly
complex due to a substantial lack of funds and extreme austerity measures. Though an
agonizing present continues to consume everyday thoughts and actions, it’s too early to
assume that a clearer post-COVID vision is emerging. Yet, dreams and aspirations have a
way of sneaking through. After all, people conquer despair through stories of hope. By
looking for inspiration people find their imaginations (Reeves & Fuller, 2020).
With new start-ups (Blank, 2018) being re-imagined, the need for extreme creativity
is becoming more notable, with renewed interest in ‘design thinking’ (Liedtka, 2018)
coming to the fore. Of course, with the massive co-creation efforts to find suitable vac-
cines requiring mass immunization garnering the most attention and fascination, the
more pressing issue is the resurrection of our global economies, our communities-as-
destinations. Given the dire need for a financial or economic resurgence, ‘mass flour-
ishing’ has become the other go-to requirement. As a consequence, growing interest
is being given to Phelps’ (2013) work on this topic that won him the Nobel Prize
in economics.
 TOURISM GEOGRAPHIES 5

The possibilities are exciting, except for the fact that many people have expressed
caution and have conditions: The first being adoption of a sustainability platform,
such as those proposed by Raworth (2020) and Rifkin (2019); and, the second being
the need to inculcate ‘anti-fragility’ so as to avoid being blindsided again. This con-
cept, proffered by Taleb (2013), reveals how companies, countries and communities
can ameliorate the physical shocks (associated with both climate risk and pandemics,
for example), while escalating ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit.
While these references represent esoteric versions of what has to transpire in
situ, what is still missing are echoes of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s pleas during the
Great Depression for ‘bold, persistent experimentation’ (to get his New Deal under-
way), and a refreshing call for Enlightenment Now (Pinker, 2018). As for ‘do-ability’
Rippley (2009), in ‘Unthinkable – Lessons from Survivors’, provides needed reassur-
ance. Following unthinkable disasters, she reported that peoples’ preparedness and
frames-of-mind, in rebound situations, are not based simply on being ‘stoic and
resilient’, but on ensuring that everyone has fact-driven knowledge about disasters,
is fully aware of the warning signs and, in particular, knows how to respond effect-
ively and urgently.
Indeed, if there is one thing that has been learned from the pandemic, it’s pre-
paredness and brutal honesty, even though these lessons are only gradually becoming
self-evident. Even so, those communities-as-destinations likely to be quick off the mark
will be those that have already placed a premium on travel and tourism, with govern-
ment officials and business leaders recognizing them not as afterthoughts, or as a ter-
tiary economic sector, but equivalent to a special kind of innovative and
entrepreneurial cluster, even as a new form of a super-cluster (Brookfield
Institute, 2017).
Without going into the special characteristics of tourism as a super-cluster, one
stands out: The desire and ability to work collaboratively, as a collective unit. So far,
the possibilities for recovery and getting on with the herculean task of reviving com-
munities-as-destinations seems more plausible when coupled with a whole-of-govern-
ment approach (OECD, 2017), particularly in regard to creating much needed
functional, emotional, life-enhancing and social value (Almquist et al., 2016), with due
consideration given to ‘shared value’ (Porter & Kramer, 2011).
Of course, as communities re-emerge from crisis situations, it’s impossible to predict
or forecast outcomes. Post-COVID scenarios may help re-imagine ‘future-forward’
worlds. But what’s more useful is a ‘future-back’ approach (Johnson & Suskewicz,
2020). When efforts are made to articulate and achieve aspirations, a ‘future-back’
approach helps identify any capability gaps that need to be closed. Future-back proto-
cols depend, therefore, on having clarity as to a journey’s starting points, that is to
say, clear knowledge as to the prevailing situation or state. Only then can strategies
(Porter, 1996) be identified and used in order to close the gaps between ‘what is’ and
‘what could or should be’. Future-back protocols are also useful when operational phil-
osophes and values shift. While post-COVID renewal definitely calls for higher degrees
of cooperativeness, changing the competitiveness ethic, promulgated by World
Economic Forum (2019), is bound to remain a challenge, even though the WEF index
factors in efforts to improve sustainability.
6 K. M. HAYWOOD

Despite this ethic, however, most individual communities-as-destinations rarely view

themselves as being in a competitive game, the exception being in regard to attract-
ing the M.I.C.E. markets. As unique entities offering different types of value to very dif-
ferent sets of visitors, the most astute remain content trying to be the very best they
can be. The concept they are implicitly trying to master, is the art of ‘presence’, in the
full meaning of the concept (Senge et al., 2004), with ‘presence’ activated through
astonishing incremental improvements: First, to the design of public places, parks and
streetscapes, exemplified through the efforts of organizations like Project for Public
Places. Second, by encouraging and showing how every public-serving entity can
become an enticing destination in and of themselves. Third, by individuals revitalizing
and beautifying their neighborhoods and communities. And then, by relying on mar-
keting, with its focus on segmentation and differentiation, to portray and promote
their uniqueness.
What’s most evident is that change has been afoot for a while. Having an industry
persona, the ‘t’ in tourism has always represented that which is transactional. Post-
COVID, however, this emphasis is being down-played. In fact, more travelers, visitors,
and residents are revealing their desires to have the ‘t’ be reflective of that which is,
or should be, transformational and transcendent. While such a call is intended to high-
light that which is human, humane and hospitable, it’s as if the ‘our’ in tourism is beg-
ging for fuller expression: Our communities, our lives, and the quality of our lives; our
livelihoods, our cultures, our natural endowments and environments.
A revival of this emphasis will come as welcome news to those who have been
extremely critical of travel and tourism’s excesses and negative impacts, but a further
coming together among all stakeholders is required if communities-as-destinations are
to unlock the status quo, to re-shape, re-vitalize, re-strategize, and re-structure them in
accord with renewed purpose.
As proponents of community-based tourism attest: When others are inspired to
find their ‘voice’, a range of fresh perspectives emerge. Industry insiders, even acade-
micians, may consider themselves to be the ‘big picture’ tourism experts, but they
aren’t. In fact, in their impulsiveness, they tend to overly generalize and jump to con-
clusions about what’s right, wrong or misguided. As Greene (2018) reminds us: ‘Your
first impulse should always be to find the evidence that disconfirms your most cherished
beliefs and those of others. That is true science.’ If tourism is to become ‘smarter’, to be
managed better, then everyone’s contextual realities and versions of ‘smarter’, must
be considered, and eventually realized in one way or another.
One cherished belief is the notion of ‘mass tourism’. As a descriptor for scale, there
can be no doubt: Tourism is a mass phenomenon. But when juxtaposed with tourism,
it implies ‘commodified’, ‘undifferentiated’, ‘uniform’ and often leads to a conjunctive
event bias (Parrish, 2020) that only presupposes either preferable or disas-
trous outcomes,
Travel and tourism are universal, but no two places, no two people, are alike. In
fact, every community is a destination of sort. Every person who visits a destination
does so for highly individualized, personal, business or leisure-related reasons, most
often with no ill effects. Yet, so often, critics only dwell only on those places with con-
centrated numbers of vacationers, then chastise tourism for causing immeasurable
 TOURISM GEOGRAPHIES 7

harm, even though there are many ways to mitigate and manage over-capacity situa-
tions (Pullman & Rodgers, 2010).
In reality, the vast majority of communities-as-destinations suffer from under-
tourism – a problem that is bound to become an even more serious as economies
tank and poverty levels ratchet up. Just as many in the business world have been
asked to better serve those at ‘the Bottom of the Pyramid’ (Simanis, 2012) – a
stretch goal if there ever was one – it seems more astute if solutions to under-tour-
ism issues could be found. By improving the worthiness of these destinations, the
crowds would disperse; and, tourism could be called upon to revive livelihoods
and economies.
Pre-COVID, far too little effort was made to clarify the role of tourism within com-
munities. Rather than articulate tourism’s purpose, which represents a higher-order
calling (Sinek et al., 2017), the explicit desire was only to maximize arrivals, lengths-of-
stay, and expenditures. Now, with greater interest being given to creating life-affirm-
ing and social value (Almquist et al., 2016), the opportunities to formulate tourism in
more transformational and transcendent ways (in this instance, helping alleviate pov-
erty) is far more likely to succeed.
As many enterprises have discovered, working toward purpose (Blount & Leinwand,
2020) takes time and involves a process requiring considerable contemplation and
deliberation. Prompted by the song ‘Imagine’ and with examples drawn from the
social side of innovation (Nicholls et al., 2015), it’s amazing how many aspirational
seeds can be planted, nurtured and germinated, so good work can begin and a readi-
ness for transformation can be assessed.
This is why more and more community-as-destinations are starting to undertake
deep-dive assessments (Horwath, 2009) – probes that really help determine what is
happening, what isn’t; what’s flourishing, what isn’t; what’s possible, what isn’t … why
and why not. When invaluable first-hand strategic information is generated by those
with ‘skin-in-the-game’ – people from the community, including those involved in, and
affected by, travel and tourism activities – the essentiality of travel and tourism to
communities-as-destinations can be determined, not simply as a driver of economic
prosperity, but as a means to honor, strengthen, and celebrate the notion of what it
means to be a community.
Looked at in another way, until COVID-19 struck, few people within communities
ever realized how dependent they were on tourism, until it utterly ceased to exist.
What a momentous realization that has been! No wonder everyone is now beside
themselves, wondering how to become wiser, not just in advocacy for travel and tour-
ism, but in their collective responsibility to re-imagine tourism’s purpose, principles
and transformative possibilities, especially when approached with curiosity and appre-
ciation for the unbounded and unprejudiced aspirations of others.
In continuing to manage ahead, such an undertaking has to be a collaborative
effort. Indeed, by working diligently for the betterment of communities and their
worthiness as compelling destinations, everyone is engaged in wayfinding, figuring
out how to co-create and capture greater value for the benefit of all; how to re-design
and deliver delightful and singularly unique experiences as they begin again to legit-
imize and honor tourism as a flourishing super-cluster that has unlimited potential to
8 K. M. HAYWOOD

contribute to everyone’s social, cultural, and economic ‘wellth’. Smarter tourism by

design (Haywood, 2020)

The academic community – engaged

In staring down the ‘road less travelled’ no one can afford to drift aimlessly along the
‘path of disunity’. Finding strength along the ‘path of solidarity’ requires, if not
demands, that the academic community work even harder in their collective efforts to
inculcate ‘anti-fragile’ properties into the operations of our communities-as-destina-
tions, so that sustainable versions of ‘mass flourishing’ can be achieved.
As every community struggles in their attempts to re-learn how to astonish and res-
onate as destinations, detailed attention has to be focused on determining exactly
what it means, and what it will take, for communities to be compelling, for hospitality
to be inspiring, for sustainability to be comprehensive, for shared value to be
achieved, and for innovation to be collaborative. No mean feat.
To assist communities in these and other endeavors, the professoriate is obliged to
re-evaluate their role during these times of crisis. Utilizing a ‘future-back’ approach,
there is an urgent need to determine, and ask, how skills and knowledge can be put
to better use:

 Beyond moving classes on-line, cancelling travel programs, and helping students
adjust, colleges and universities have unparalleled opportunities, to help commun-
ities cope. Nothing is working as it once did; there is a scramble to adjust to new
realities and rapidly changing circumstances. New and radical thinking, new and
different approaches to problem-solving are required (Naidoo, 2020). Trust and con-
fidence, knowledge, information, and research are in short-supply. Find out what’s
needed, and make it so.
 Universities have always played a leadership role in society. The role of leaders is
to call people to reason. If this is lacking, so is trust. In another sense, leadership
has to be seen as ‘management practiced well’ (Mintzberg, 2009). What this entails
may surprise some in that managerial effectiveness, considered in context, is at
once reflective, collaborative (analytic and worldly) and integrative – the very traits
that everyone reveres and expects students to have upon graduation, though
employers are also on the look-out for those who are energetic and proactive. Why
is this worth mentioning? Simply to say, many colleges and universities are not
doing a good enough job in being leaders, and in ensuring these managerial traits
are being learned and applied. Herein lie opportunities to get students involved in
community projects – destination assessments being but one form of action
research. Far more can also be done to create ‘daring classrooms’, to update curric-
ulums to meet current needs in a post-COVID world (Tufano, 2020), and to work
hand-in-glove with organizations to create meaningful, project-based internships
and job opportunities.
 Remaining on the topic of management, the purpose and mandates of DMOs have
to be updated. The academic community, in conjunction with other professional
groups, can play more formidable roles in informing mayors, municipal
 TOURISM GEOGRAPHIES 9

governments, and city officials about the importance of managing communities-as-

destinations: How to establish a purpose for communities-as-destinations; improve
governance; formulate tourism strategies and make revisions to policies that reflect
purpose and principles. Similarly for those who operate on the frontlines:
Embroiled as they are in day-to-day operational demands, many welcome holistic
perspectives in regard to visitor and resident (host) expectations; perfecting their
understanding of comprehensive sustainability, inspired hospitality, and creation of
more equitable shared value.
 Small- to medium-sized businesses are in desperate need of assistance, especially
in regard to the development of reconfigured survival and entrepreneurial skills to
meet new exigencies. Some universities offer consulting services to SMEs, but far
more could be done in regard to tourism-related enterprises.
 Based on discussions, within various sectors of tourism, there is a high degree of
interest in building cultures of experimentation, improving decision making in
uncertain times, initiating conscious social change, applying social innovation to
tourism, making public place and space improvements, and forming Tourism
Innovation Hubs or Labs, some of which could be located at universities.
 Faculty need to be engaged in communities to help identify, study and resolve
many critical issues. Not only does this refer to promoting and leading action
research projects and destination assessments, but also to a need to disseminate
needed information in easily accessible ways (notably on topics such as risk,
finance, safety, employee relations). It might help if faculty read more widely in the
field of management. Publications of merit include the Harvard Business Review,
Strategy and Business, the blogs and newsletters from Destination Think, City Lab,
McKinsey and the Boston Consulting Group, for example, particularly their coverage
of COVID-19.
 ‘Come together’ will remain a rallying cry, but it’s unlikely local communities-as-
destinations are going to come to you. Faculty must initiate these relationships if
you haven’t already done so. The most successful university/industry partnerships
have always been those in which there is mutual respect for each other’s contribu-
tions, everyone encouraging each other to work for the common good. To be seen
in this light, it helps when everyone gets involved in each other’s realm of interest,
participates in industry associations, attends ‘real’ gatherings/conferences, and goes
out of their way to network, network, network.

Tourism becomes smarter by design when the revival and revitalization of all com-
munities-as-destinations takes center stage and is taken seriously. Progress on this
front is not just a matter of modernizing a rather moribund competitiveness ethic,
though it helps to understand the interplay between competition and cooperation
(Hoffmann et al., 2018). Rather what’s essential is a better appreciation for tourism’s
transformative and transcendent possibilities that through a combination of economic,
technological, scientific, cultural, and organizational advancement can continue to
transform lives and raise standards of living for decades to come.
If there is an upside to crises like COVID-19, it’s the on-going, intense scrutiny of
the past, and exploration of more desirable futures. With communities-as-destinations
10 K. M. HAYWOOD

now pulling together to better understand ‘what is’ through deep-dive destination
assessments, so as to determine ‘what could and should be’, the whole process of fig-
uring out how to transition toward transformation can proceed.
Other than what’s already been mentioned, imagine faculty from all disciplines
coming together to create a science of progress (Collison & Cowin, 2019) applied to
tourism. The ramifications in regard to continuing development of all ‘future back’ ini-
tiatives could be immense. Imagine the progress that could be made in the efforts to
engender ‘anti-fragile’ forms of mass flourishing and achievement of the all-import-
ant SDGs.
‘Carpe diem’, seize the day.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor
K. Michael Haywood, Professor Emeritus (School of Food, Hospitality and Tourism Management,
University of Guelph, Canada), serves a select group of clients through the Haywood Group and
the Tourism Studio, located in the bucolic Eastern Townships of Quebec.

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